Germany’s newly appointed Minister for Digital Affairs, Karsten Wildberger, has announced an ambitious plan to accelerate the digitalization of public administration, beginning with pilot projects in at least two states. The initiative seeks to streamline citizen services and foster a nationwide shift towards digital solutions.
Wildberger, a newcomer to politics, previously held executive positions at retail giant MediaMarkt-Saturn and energy corporation Eon. He aims to identify and replicate successful municipal digital services through a “test region” approach, working directly with select states to analyze existing infrastructure and pinpoint areas for improvement. While he refrained from disclosing the specific states involved, emphasizing the desire to include both a city-state and a larger federal state, he envisions a substantial increase – 50 percent – in digital citizen services within these regions within a timeframe of two and a half years.
The strategy centers on disseminating best practices. Once successful implementations are established in the pilot states, the intention is to leverage this momentum to spur faster adoption across Germany. Alongside the pilot projects, the ministry will collect and catalogue digital solutions from across different states, exploring the possibility of offering them centrally through a cloud-based platform, likened to an “app store” for municipalities. This would provide all communities with easy access to proven digital tools.
Wildberger expressed a desire to move away from a system where individual municipalities develop their own, often isolated, solutions. He underscored a focus on fundamental, structural challenges rather than tactical considerations, aiming to create a unified digital landscape for public administration in Germany.
